We first met at the end of October 2019 at the Naval Health Clinic on the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. I (Adrienne) was just starting my first dental hygiene job out of college as a government contractor at the clinic, and James was a hospital corpsman working in the Military Physicals Department.

When the COVID-19 Pandemic hit in March 2020, I was sent home on leave for 6 months. James was active duty and considered "essential personnel," so he stayed behind and continued working. While I was out of work, James and I became Facebook friends and started texting daily. After finally deeming it "safe" to hang out together outdoors (and finally working up the courage) I asked James out on a date to the beach at Fort Foster in Kittery, ME on August 9, 2020.

After many months of doing movie nights with takeout for dinner in the barracks (due to COVID regulations dictating our date nights), we decided to move in together and get our first apartment in Dover, NH in June 2021. We adopted two kittens, Zola and Mako, in the first couple months of moving in. We went on our first vacation as a couple that summer for a family wedding in Colorado, and then road tripping from there to Montana to visit James's family. Things were going great that summer, until the military abruptly swooped in and James got orders for a navy school program in San Diego, CA that was 12 months long (with only 3 weeks' notice before his start date...naturally). I still had my dental hygiene job at the clinic and didn't want to move away for such a short time (knowing I'd have to start all over again in a new state for such a brief stay), so reluctantly we started our 1-year, long distance relationship.

On Memorial Day Weekend 2022, I went out to San Diego to visit James after not seeing each other since Christmas. We had a fun long weekend, finally spending some much-needed time together. We had authentic Cali tacos and Italian food that were to die for. We went on a day trip to the San Diego Zoo. We lounged on a dog-friendly beach (where I got to finally swim in the Pacific Ocean for the first time!). On our last night together, May 29, 2022, we went on a romantic dinner date on the water, where James proposed!

Once James finally returned home from San Diego, we eloped on October 7, 2022. Just in time to move into our first house together in Jacksonville, NC, where James would be stationed at Camp Lejeune. Since moving to North Carolina, we've been slowly working on painting the walls in our completely beige colored house, and we added a third (and final) feline family member, Evie.

We cannot wait to embark on the rest of our lives together as Mr. and Mrs. Climenti!